Let's step back in history to March 3, 1820, when the Missouri Compromise was passed by Congress. Missouri joined the Union as a slave state, while Maine was admitted as a free state. This allowed for an equal number of free and slave states in the United States. Thus it was that early pioneers settling in Missouri could own slaves.
In 1830, Lamon Short and his family were part of a wagon train from central Tennessee heading west. His wagon broke down in Moniteau Township of Cole County, and because the land was so bountiful, they stayed. Enoch Enloe, Short's brother-in-law, also left the train and settled in the same area with his family of 14 children, his wife and a large number of slaves. Enoch was a good businessman and he added a mill, blacksmith shop, mercantile store, and a hotel and stable for travelers on the Atlantic-Pacific Trail, which passed by his farm. He also opened the first post office in this region.
More families settled this area - many from Tennessee, and many with slaves - and a town way laid out and surveyed. Buckner Russell, Richard Morris and Benjamin Griffen laid out the town in 1831 and named it after Russell. It consisted of eight blocks, four on each side of Jefferson Street, the main street. Immigrants from Europe, mainly Germany and Australia, arrived in the 1850s and settled north and east of Russellville. They built the first Lutheran church, but Russellville already had a Methodist church, two doctors and other businesses.
Russellville continued to be a self-contained community 17 miles from Jefferson City, joined only by bad roads and the Moreau River. All this changed in 1881 when the Jefferson City and Kansas Railroad built an iron bridge across the Moreau and came to Russellville. This opened up Russellville to all Missouri.
In January 1883, a fire spread and burned most of the Russellville business district. Much like old uptown Jefferson City, early buildings were built of wood. In the 1880s, Germans built them of brick. (My building at 236 E. McCarty St. was built of brick in 1884). In Russellville, the downtown as we know it today is built of brick, facing the railroad tracks and station.
In 1898, the Russellville City Hotel, a two-story brick hotel, was built to house visitors coming in by train. It also featured an attached bar serving Moerschel's Capitol Beer. Russellville also had mercantiles, restaurants, grocery, drug store, a milliner, doctors, a dentist, lumber yard, funeral home, blacksmiths, mills, and of course taverns and bars. Mining was also a big industry near Russellville, and when the railroad came the ore could be shipped by train.
In 1874, the Boaz Mines near Russellville employed 10 men and produced 200,000 pounds of lead a year. This was the largest lead mine in Cole County, surpassing their nearest competition by 25 percent.
Russellville continued to thrive, and on Sept. 2, 1895, it incorporated with John Grant, a local businessman, elected the first mayor and Hugh Enloe, the town clerk. In 1895, a weekly newspaper, the Russellville Rustler, began publishing, and the Exchange Bank opened in 1894. Russellville's population hovered between 300 and 500 people through the 1960s, but it served all the farms and industries surrounding the town. Roads were dirt or gravel until the late 1940s, and many farmers volunteered their time to drag their roads after rains and snow. Route C, the main road through Russellville, was finally taken over by the Missouri Highway Department in 1936. Passenger trains to Russellville were discontinued in 1932, so roads became a more important means of transportation. Electricity provided by Missouri Power and Light came to Russellville in 1929. The times were changing!
Few people know Russellville was the site of heavy skirmishing between Confederates and Union forces during the Civil War. In 1864, Confederate Gen. Sterling Price tried to capture Jefferson City, and when that failed, he and his army moved Southwest toward Russellville. The Confederates established a strong defense line along the Moreau River near Stringtown. Union cavalry and artillery under Gen. Sandborn drove them through Russellville and on to California.
The Jefferson City and Kansas Railroad became known as the Bagnell Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and continued in operation until 1962. It ran from Jefferson City to the town of Bagnell in Miller County, although it was originally to end in Lebanon. Stops include Scruggs Station, Lohman, Russellville, Enon, Olean, Eldon and Aurora Springs. Railroads opened up many communities, but they could still be dangerous.
On Sunday, Dec. 18, 1881, a train left Jefferson City for Russellville carrying freight for their mercantiles. On its return trip to Jefferson City, about 2 miles east of Russellville, the train derailed and went down an embankment, killing three of the merchant passengers immediately. Among those three killed was Green C. Berry, a businessman, farmer, politician and director of the National Exchange Bank of Jefferson City. In the 1870s, he had served two terms as Cole County collector and two terms as sheriff. Green Berry Road, past Moreau Drive, is named for him. Also killed were two Jefferson City businessmen, Christopher Wagner, Oscar Monnig and a railroad employee, Chris Gemeinhart. Injured in the wreck was a relative of mine, William Zuendt, a son-in-law and business partner of Christopher Wagner.
I am fascinated by Russellville with its business district facing the now-gone railroad tracks, and not Route C, as most towns would.
I'm also proud of Russellville's school system, Cole County R-1. Their first school opened in 1882, and the first high school in 1914. Today, Cole County R-1 has the highest test scores of all the schools in Cole County, and this fall they will be adding a football program beginning with eighth grade. It is an awesome school, and it helps hold the community together.
Every community in Cole County has its own unique history, and Russellville truly does.
Sources: "The Heritage of Russellville in Cole County," by Reba Alexander Koestner; "Russellville: Celebrating 175 years," "Russellville Sesquincentenial 150 years," and "Heartland History: Volume 1," by Gary Kremer.
Sam Bushman is the presiding commissioner on the Cole County Commission. His perspective appears on the editorial page each third Sunday of the month.